Slayers:
ETERNAL BLACK
Part 2: Dragon Hunt! If I had some food...


A normal person can survive without food for three weeks, provided you have water and shelter. You can live off of roots and berries if needed; though some may be poisonous. A person can live by chewing bark when desperate measures are called for.

However, when this person's name is Lina Inverse, that all changes drastically.

"Lina needs food to survive..." Lina moaned, her back slumped. "I must eat... something..." she looked wildly around for something eatable, but couldn't see anything in view.

"It's only been a day since we left the town," Zelgadis said stoically, the only one unaffected by the lack of food. Gourry and Amelia were both also walking slumped, their faces drained of energy. "I think that you can last for a few hours before we start having a real problem..." Zel trailed off as Lina started chewing on his stone skin. "Never mind - we have a problem."

"I...need...FOOD!" she cried. She sat down and tried eating the grass, but spit it out disgustedly. How horses could stand that stuff was amazing. Unconsciously she rubbed the new scar below her right eye. It painfully reminded her of the previous day. "I'm not moving anywhere until I get something to eat," she declared obstinately. She folded her arms and stared at Zel, her eyes trying to bore a hole through his head. He glanced at her uneasily, unsure of what to do next. Gourry shook himself and tried to stand tall.

"We can't give up now! We have to keep going..." he stopped as his stomach roared. He tried to laugh it off with a sheepish look, but it gave another loud roar. It sounded like a dragon bellowing.

A dragon's roar...

Zel realized what would happen too late. "Get do-" he was cut off as a giant shape went screaming only a few yards above them, the shockwave bowling them over. Zel glanced up in time to see the monstrosity start to turn around, arcing in flight to return.

"HEY!" Lina shouted, pushing a lump that was known as Gourry off of her. She leapt to her feet and shook her fist at the dragon. "You bastard! There is no way in hell I'm going to let you get away with that!" She spread her arms, a wind beginning to pick up around her.

"Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows..." Zel, Amelia and Gourry immediately started panicking.

"OI, OI!" they all shouted, grabbing her and pulling her back. "There is no way you're going to do that at such close range!" Zel shouted to her.

"No way! I'm gonna teach that bastard just who it is he's messing with! Lemme go!" Lina struggled under the grip of the three, none of them going to let go. They all paused just in time to see the dragon streaking right towards them. All four panicked simultaneously, but were unable to move in time to avoid the second shockwave. The dragon continued flying on, soaring off to the horizon as they picked themselves up.

"That...does it," Lina growled coldly, clenching her fist so hard it shook. "There is NO WAY in all of Hell that I am going to allow some overgrown lizard make a fool of ME!" She finished by punching the ground as hard as she could, then wincing at the pain. She stood up suddenly. She brushed the dirt off of her clothes and started off. The other three all quickly hurried after her.

"Oi, Lina!" Gourry called after her. "Where are we going?" Lina pounded his head in with her fist.

"WEREN'T YOU LISTENING TO A WORD I JUST SAID, JELLYFISH-BRAINS?" she bellowed at him. "I said we're going to go kill a dragon! Right after this eyecatcher."

There was a quick musical interlude provided by the orchestra that followed them around, and a repeat of that right after it. Two men in all black ran in with a large picture of someone, then flipped it around for a different picture on the second run. They then ran off. Zel was left completely baffled by this as Lina picked up right where she left off. "We're going to go kill a dragon! Right after this-"

"Ne, you already did that bit," Gourry reminder her quickly.

"Oh, right. But anyway, first things first. I must get some food, and then we go kill. Sound good?"

"Sounds good. Ikuzo!" Gourry and Lina both set off, side by side, marching down the path as Amelia and Zel both stared after them. There was a long silence.

"Sometimes I think I'm the only sane person left in this world," Zelgadis moaned softly, then followed after them. Amelia, having absolutely NO idea as to what was going on, decided that if you follow Lina Inverse, it has to be exciting, if not full of food and bad jokes. So she was right behind them.

* * *

The main disadvantage to a large town is that, no matter whom you talk to, somehow everyone will know that you've come. This is especially true when you happen to be famous, or at least fairly well known. As it is, when a group consisting of a well-known sorceress and a princess, complete with bodyguard and chimera, enters in, word spreads like wildfire. Because of this, as they sat waiting for their food, dozens of medieval news reporters were crowding around their table, each one wanting to get their word in. Lina was positive that there had never been news reporters around before, but here they all were, trying to talk to her.

"Lina-san, could I have a short interview with you?"

"Ne ne ne, Lina-san, what's it like to be so well known?"

"Oi, Amelia-hime, what does Prince Philionel think of the other kingdoms that are now in contact with Seyruun?"

Lina tried to push away some greedy reporters, but wasn't having much success. "Ne, Lina-san," Amelia wailed from the chair next to her. "Who are these people, and why don't they leave us alone?"

Zel simply sat, uncaring, as usual, as several others tried their hand at interviews. He put up with it until one bluntly said, "What's up with your skin and all? You look like a freak." Zelgadis kept his cool, calm exterior as he reached over, grabbed the insolent one, and planted his first seven inches into his face. He even stayed calm as he continued to pummel the poor man, who was now having second thoughts about opening his mouth, much less being born.

Gourry, however, was having a great time. "Wow, I haven't had this much attention since my last birthday with my family!" He sighed happily. "Those were the good old days...playing on the hills outside of town...getting fresh bread from the baker down the street...ah...uh..." Gourry trailed of, forgetting what he had been talking about. The reporters were more than happy to continue his story for him, whether it was true or not.

Lina, however, had now had enough.

"DIRU BRANDO!"

The reporters were left strewn about the sidewalk outside as Lina sat back down to enjoy her meal. The food was set on the table, and the waitress had to snatch her hands away to avoid loosing them to the ravenous heroes/heroines. Zel ordered a glass of water and two saltine crackers. As they ate, one of the reporters tried to crawl back in, but Lina stopped his questions before they started by planting her foot into his face.

After a hearty meal, they all sat back. "Now," Lina said, drumming her fingers on the table, "to get that damn dragon, we need some information about it. What say we split up and go out to ask the townspeople about it?"

"Hai! That's a wonderful idea, Lina-san!" Amelia said, absolutely full of energy. "Me and Zelgadis-san..."

"Zelgadis and I."

"...will form one group, while Gourry-san and you..."

"You and Gourry."

"...form another! That way we'll maximize our efficiency while still staying relatively safe!" She finished with a fist in the air. Gourry attempted to figure out how that worked out mathematically, but because he is Gourry, he gave up in about five seconds, most of which was spent thinking, Ah, I give up.

"Relatively...?" Zel asked, not quite sure about his own future. There were storm clouds gathering outside.

* * *

After about a half-hour of quick info gathering, they regrouped at the town center by the obligatory fountain that always sits in the middle of town, where heroes of all kinds can sit and discuss their troubles. As it was, no one really paid attention to what they said. If they did, the bad guy could always figure out what the hero was doing just by asking some questions to the right people.

Lina and Company weren't the only heroes relaxing by the fountain. There were several odd groups of travelers, ranging from several thickly armored men to some of the most unlikely band of heroes ever - but that is always to be expected of brave heroes.

"Well, there wasn't much to be found," Zel reported. "Most people get white-faced and claim ignorance of any sort of dragon. It seems that they're all deathly afraid to even speak of it."

"Same with us," Lina grumbled. She stood up and started pacing. "God, this is ridiculous! What makes people so afraid of something that they won't even talk of it? It's just a goddam dragon!"

"Not exactly."

They all turned at the sound of the voice, Gourry and Zel both automatically reaching for their swords. A young girl, looking to be only about sixteen, dressed in a green dress with a red scarf, took a step back at the two warrior's reaction. Her wealth of brown hair was tied back, and her face was distantly innocent.

"What do you mean by, not exactly?" Zelgadis asked, a bit harsher than he intended. The girl shrunk back farther, looking rather frightened. Lina grabbed Zel's ear.

"Mellow out, Zel!" she whispered fiercely into his ear. "She's just a little girl... well, not little, but who cares!" With that, she let go and walked up to the girl, a kind smile on her face. "I'm so sorry about Zel," she apologized, giving a little laugh. "He just gets so intense sometimes that he forgets who he's talking to." Lina lead the girl a ways away. "Now, can I ask you your name?"

"It's Merasa," the girl said softly. She was definitely the shy type; all the guys must love her to death, Lina thought.

"Good, now we're making some ground. My name's Sophia," Lina used and old favorite of hers to avoid the general response. "Can you say what you just said for me again?"

"Well," Merasa started, her eyes downcast, "you and your friends were talking about the dragon, and I just wanted to say that, well..." she trailed off, but picked up again. "It's not a normal beast! It only comes out to attack travelers, and then leads them back to its cave, where it...devours them..." A sick look came to her face, and Lina decided it was time to make her move.

"Really, now..." Lina tapped a finger on her forehead, thinking. "That explains why it kept coming after us. Now it makes even more pissed!" Lina began cracking her knuckles. "Something's gonna die, and it's big and red with wings."

"Ano..." Lina glanced back at Merasa, who was cringing a bit away from her. "If you want, I can lead you to the dragon's lair. It's not too far from town."

"Really!?" Lina cried, happily embracing the rather surprised girl. "That would be so great! Yosha! Now, we're gonna go kick some giant lizard ass!"

* * *

Not much later found them walking up a mountain. Which is to be expected, because all dragons live in a cave in a mountain. But mountains tend to involve lots of steep faces and unending peril to all that like to climb them. Because of this, it wasn't long before they got used to it.

For example, as they were walking along one stretch, a tree growing out of the side of the mountain decided to fall on them. In a flash, Gourry sliced the tree into pieces, creating a nice woodpile, complete with a sigh reading, 'Wood for sale: Cheap!' With that done, they continued.

At another point, they were walking along a narrow path when Amelia slipped and would have fallen to a certainly painful death if she had not cast Levitation. As soon as she was back on the path, they kept on going.

On a rather overhung path, a boulder suddenly fell in front of them. This would have crushed the person in front, had that said person not have been Zelgadis. The boulder broke in half on his stone head, split perfectly down the middle. Zel rubbed his head, looking around to see what had hit him, then shrugged and kept going.

At long last, they reached the dragons' cave. It was huge, a massive opening in the side of the mountain, looking for the entire world like an opening to the Hells. Bones littered the area in front of it, some of them human. As they walked through the bone field, the aged bones crunched beneath their feet, stirring mice and other odd animals from their homes. "Pleasant place," Lina said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. She didn't get a response.

They entered the cave, guided by one of Lina's Lighting spells. The dim light reflected coldly off of the cave walls, giving off flickering shadows in the deeper corners of the darkness. Rats scurried from where they had been hiding in small crevices, stirred by human presence. In every corner, where the dim shadows flickered and danced without a care for anything in the world, a sense of danger emanated. Doom seemed to be written on all of the walls, and Death was just around every corner.

Lead by Merasa, they cautiously crept foreword. The young girl showed no signs of terror; much less any type of fear at all. She walked forward, always confident in her steps, only slowing to collect her bearings. It was an odd change to the girl, who had been afraid of Lina's every jump, to be so calm here.

Deeper and deeper into the twisting caverns they went, the passageways getting larger and larger. A heavy sense of anticipation hung over them, like a think blanket, accenting the inner fear that was in all of them. Finally, they reached the end.

Lina followed Merasa around one last corner and found herself face-to-face with a large statue. She gave a start and nearly screamed before she realized it wasn't real. It was of what looked like an artistic interpretation of a dragon, with a long snout, horns about where the ears would be, lizard-like eyes, and a forked tongue. It was done in a cheap bronze, so it had lost it's dull shine and rusted over, now a pea green.

Merasa walked up to the statue and pressed her hand against a section of the wall. It slid in, and the wall began to slide. She turned to them. "Through this passage is the way to the dragons lair. You go first." They started forward.

"Hold it."

Everyone turned. Lina was standing adamantly, her eyes watching Merasa. "Hang on just a minute her, miss. If this is the dragon's lair, then why does it need a hidden entrance? Why not just a large cave, hmm?"

Merasa looked at Lina strangely. "Lina-san, I don't understand what you're saying..." Lina cut her off sharply, her voice like a knife in the darkness.

"Oh, you know what I mean! You've been leading us in a twisted little circle this whole time! That whole story about the dragon...it may be true, but if it is, then you have something to do with it." Lina fixed her with a look. "What are you hiding?"

There was a terrible silence as Gourry, Amelia and Zel looked back and forth between the two girls. Merasa smiled.

"Well." She met Lina's gaze with an unflinching smile. "It seems you're a lot smarter than you make yourself out to be." Her smile twitched, like she was trying to keep herself from laughing. Lina's Lighting spell suddenly was snuffed out of existence.

There was a deafening roar from the room that had opened behind her. "You want to know what I'm hiding...? Then you'll find out. But knowing means death."

There was a huge burst of flames, as they were shown the giant room. It looked for all the world like the most generic dragon's lair, with gold strewn in huge piles everywhere, and the bones of less fortunate adventures littered the floor. The enormous red dragon reared up to its full height, reaching to the ceiling of the cave, at least a good forty feet up.

That was when they saw Merasa. No longer garbed in her peasant girl clothing, she wore a skimpy green dress that showed quite a bit of cleavage, with a red scarf draped across her shoulders and arms. Her eyes had a malicious glint to them; nothing like the quiet, scared girl she had been earlier.

"Lina Inverse," she said, her voice full of disgust, "I can't believe you actually fell for that whole act. You adventurers must have all been hit on the head too much, with how you all fall for the same trick. No matter." She smiled evilly. "This will be your grave. Dragon, get them!" The red dragon bellowed and opened its mouth, a burst of flames spewing forward. With how they were placed, Lina and the others had nowhere to run to.

"Balus Wall!" Three voices simultaneously yelled. A reddish wall suddenly shot up, deflecting the flames to either side. As the smoke cleared, Lina stepped forward, a confident look on her face.

"Is that it? Just a little dragon to try and kill me? I hope for you sake that you've got something else up your sleeve, because I'll kill you if you don't." She raised her hands above her head. "Freeze Arrow!" she yelled, throwing the spell straight at Merasa. However, before it reached her, the dragon moved in front of her to take the spell, which broke off on its hide.

"Don't you worry, Lina Inverse!" Merasa yelled back. "I have plenty of tricks for you!" She pointed at Lina. "Kill her!"

The red dragon bellowed and lunged for Lina. Somewhat surprised, Lina dove to the side just in time to avoid getting chomped. She rolled and came up with her hands pointing at the dragon. "Bram Brazer!" she shouted, and a blue blast shot out and struck the dragon, dealing little damage. It did, however, focus the dragon's attention on her. The dragon began to continually fire small fireballs at Lina as she dove, jumped, and twisted in every way to avoid them, screaming the whole time. Gourry and Zelgadis stood off to the side, watching. Gourry scratched his head.

"You know, I have the strangest feeling..." he started.

"Yeah?" Zel asked, still watching Lina.

"Maybe...we could do something to distract the dragon away from Lina?" he suggested. Zel sighed.

"You're right. What a bore." With that, and raised his hand. "Fireball." A small fireball spat out and bounced off the dragon's nose. It stopped for a moment to stare at it's slightly blackened nose, then looked at Zel and Gourry, both just standing there, eyes wide. "Ah...Gourry, your turn." With that, Zelgadis threw Gourry straight at the beast. Gourry ineffectively bounced off the dragon's snout. As Gourry joined Lina in her mad dodging of fire, Zel sighed.

Merasa cackled evilly, her hand next to her mouth. "Yes, Lina Inverse! Dance! Dance until you are consumed with flames! Ha ha ha ha-" Merasa suddenly stopped laughing and fell on her face. Amelia, who had snuck behind her, had hit her in the back of the head with a golden scepter from the dragon's horde. The red dragon, confused now that's its controller was out cold, looked around aimlessly. Lina, however, had now had enough,

"That's...it." She crossed her arms over her head and began the familiar chant.

"Darkness from twilight, crimson from blood that flows...buried in the flow of time, in Thy great name, I pledge myself to darkness!" Gourry, Amelia and Zel all started panicking, looking for a place to hide. "Those who oppose us shall be destroyed by the power you and I possess!

"DRAGU SLAVE!!"

The familiar reddish beam shot out straight towards the dragon and struck it, creating a huge explosion that rocked the mountain. There was the longest silence in the midst of the rubble before an armored hand shot out. Gourry pushed a huge boulder off of him and climbed out, followed by Amelia and Zel. Lina landed gracefully next to them, completely unblemished.

"Well, you see what happens when you mess with the great Lina Inverse?" she threw her head back and laughed evilly. "No one can beat me!" With that, she started skipping down to the town, humming a little tune, leaving the others staring blankly. As she went, she unconsciously scratched an itch under her eye. She stopped where she was and slowly ran her finger over the scar. She wasn't someone who scarred easily, but the small cut refused to go away, even after a healing spell. She shuddered uncontrollably.

She wasn't invincible. Just a day ago, she had come too close to dying. And it wasn't the first time. Which was what scared her.

"Lina?"

She started at Gourry's voice. She turned to look at him, his kind, stupid face filled with concern. Zel and Amelia were right behind him, also looking at her. It was comforting to know that these people were her friends, and that they would stick with her through thick and thin.

"Lina? What's wrong?"

Lina just smiled. "Oh, nothing at all. Just thinking is all." She turned and started down the path again. "C'mon, let's go get us some food! We've been too long about it." With that said, they all walked down the path to the city.

Continued later...(I hope)